The Surfer

Consider this for a logic googly. Person A is the most successful attacking player in his team when they play the least attacking of the three forms of cricket, yet in the two more attacking forms of the game he cannot get a game. He is kept out of the side by Person B, even though he is essentially superior in both roles that their position demands. Welcome to the curious case of Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter.

You can have as many theories as you like, but sometimes there is no grand reason; a slowish start to an ODI career simply begins to perpetuate itself for the usual human reasons. There is much talk of one-day specialists, yet for every one of those there must logically be a Test specialist. Prior is 30 now and, although it seems daft to say about a player of such talent, we may have seen the last of him in coloured clothing for England.

In international cricket the opposition are smart enough to know which batsmen will be affected by sledging and which won’t. They realised it soon enough that their ploy of distracting me wasn’t going to work. A lot of people would be surprised to hear this, but for most part of my career, I’ve not been sledged by the Australians.

For once in their rivalry, Pakistan can claim a numerical superiority, winning more matches than they have lost (even though one of the losses, in the semi-finals of the 2010 World T20, was as traumatic as any Australia have inflicted).

But that edge may not hold for long. Australia, belatedly, are getting serious about Twenty20. They possess plenty of players who can and do traverse formats comfortably, but there are also some who express themselves best over 20 overs.

"You had selectors saying 'we're not sure exactly what the policy is. We select players and we are criticised. We change the players and the selection committee is changed, because people don't like the fact that the team is not performing and they don't like who is being picked on the team'. And there was no structure to it."

As a society, we are constantly on the hunt for celebrity, and, increasingly, associate our own well being and happiness, however fleetingly, with the deeds of others. It’s just the situation we live in; if India win, we’re happy, and feel a deep connection with those who are successful. If they lose, there’s despair, which manifests in many ways, from the trivial, such as venting frustrations on social media to the obnoxious, such as tarring the nameplates of cricketers at their residences or flinging a rock through someone’s car windows.

Conspiracists love the idea that Pietersen helped bring down Strauss, but conspiracists tend to ignore the evidence. Strauss had played 100 Tests, 50 of them as captain. He was no longer scoring any meaningful runs. England had lost six Tests out of 11 since ascending to No 1. He's 35.

Next up was a trip to India, where things were not going to get any easier. If Pietersen featured at all in his list of reasons for retiring, it would have been somewhere near the bottom.

Bangalore was the first time Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult were given full responsibility as the side's only seamers. They appeared to relish the task, especially Southee in his seven-wicket haul in the hosts' first innings, and Boult, who was hitting previously unseen speeds of 145km/h.

Ross Taylor. 2 matches, 157 runs at 39.3. Topped the run-scoring charts courtesy of his freewheeling 113 in Bangalore: a magnificent display of talking the talk then walking the walk. But he still got himself out in frustrating ways, his slip catching was poor and his captaincy not always inspiring. A mixed series, in other words. Grade: B

I have no doubt that Trott and Bell have the skills to succeed as openers, but why would you want to move them from a position where they have been exceptional performers and potentially weaken an area of the team that is functioning well? My preference would be to choose someone from the county game ... The candidates at the top of the selectors list will possibly be Hampshire's Michael Carberry and Yorkshire's Joe Root. Beyond Carberry and Root, a couple of others who could also be in the frame are Varun Chopra and Nick Compton.

The danger in seeking players who fit a particular mould is two-fold. First, it encourages the elevation of those who may not be capable enough to make it in Test cricket. Second, and more important, it puts an inordinate amount of pressure on a new player to emulate not just the style but also the achievements of the colossus he’s replaced. Which is where Pujara faces his biggest threat going forward.